A WARNING TO THE LOST
Hebrews 6 : 4 – 8, is one of the most controversial in the New Testament. You have to pay careful attention to the grammatical structure, or you will miss the entire point. These verses are not talking about a Christian who loses his or her salvation. These verses are a warning to those who almost make a profession of faith only to renounce it. In other words, these verses are about apostasy.
A. The Full Enlightenment
Hebrews 6 : 4 – 5
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
These are those who have seen the truth in a clear unmistakable way but did not go all the way. You must pay careful attention to understand what the writer is saying. He in no means is saying a person can lose his or her salvation. He is saying that person was never saved. Can I share an example of what the writer is saying?
Dwight L. Moody was preaching in a tent meeting, and a man in attendance came under conviction from the Holy Spirit. The man did not make a profession of faith, and sometime later, the man became ill. Dwight L. Moody visited the man in the hospital. The man was afraid he was going to die, and although he would not accept Christ then and there, he promised Moody that should he get well he would come to one of Moody’s tent meetings and accept Christ.
The man recovered, but he failed to honor his pledge. Moody went to see him again and reminded him of his promise, and Moody warned him about rejecting Jesus. The man shrugged off Moody’s warning that he was on dangerous ground. Shortly afterward, the man became terminally ill. Moody visited him again and urged him to accept Christ, but the man said:
“It is too late.” Moody pleaded him, but the man kept saying, “I had my chance, and now it is too late. It is too late.” Moody knelt by the man’s bedside in vain to pray, but listen to what Moody said:
“The heavens seemed as brass.” Moody was praying, but he knew his prayers were doing no good. Shortly afterward, the man died, was buried in a Christless grave, and is awaiting judgment today. He got right to the edge. He knew the truth. He knew who Jesus was, but he did not go all the way.
This man knew the truth, he had been convicted, but he did not go all the way. He had been enlightened but had rejected the truth. You are in the same boat if you are only listed on a church roll and not the Lamb’s Book of Life. This man had not only seen the truth, but he had tasted the good word as verse 5 says.
Look at how it is worded.
Hebrews 6 : 4b – 5
have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
Some have taken the first tentative taste of what Christ has to offer. They taste of the heavenly gift. Just think about that gift for a minute. God has given us the Scriptures, He has given us His Son, He has given us His Spirit, and He offers us salvation. People’s eyes are wide open to what God offered in Christ. They had been made to be partakers of the Holy Spirit.
Proverbs 29 : 1
1 He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
How is a lost person a partaker of the Holy Spirit? By the conviction the Holy Spirit brings. In the example I gave, the man had been rebuked, convicted, if he had not been he would not have been at the point of salvation. With each denial of the Holy Spirit, the heart gets harder to the point the Holy Spirit stops convicting or rebuking, and when that happens, there is no remedy.
John talks about it too:
John 16 : 7 – 11
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
The intended Hebrew audience of this letter and many today have partaken in the initial work of the Holy Spirit to convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. They are brought to the place of understanding that Christ was all He claimed to be, to the place of repentance, and to the point where they know Christ is the answer to their every need, but to be a partaker of the Holy Spirit is not to be a possessor of the Holy Spirit.
Remove the terminal illness the man in my example had from the equation. What happened to him can happen to any person who on life’s journey who continually rejects the Holy Spirit to the point that he or she is suddenly destroyed with no remedy. Being suddenly destroyed does not mean death. It means that you have crossed the deadline, and once that happens, there is no remedy in this world or the one to come.
B. Their Fearful Enmity
Hebrews 6 : 6
6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame.
Although not saved, these people had been fully enlightened to the truth in Christ. They were at the point where they had to either accept Christ or turn their backs on what they knew to be true, and so it is with every lost person. There comes that final decision. Verse 6 tells us how we know what choice they made, and some of you are not going to believe this but listen to the Holy Spirit. Verse 6 says a sign of that rejection is falling away. They fall away. They become apostates, and the condition of all apostates is summed up in the rest of verse 6.
(It is impossible) to renew them again to repentance since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. It is impossible, according to the Scriptures, to renew that person again. Can I share two passages of Scripture that explain this?
1 John 2 : 19
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
Dear friend, a true believer may backslide, but he or she is not going to fall away. Those are two completely opposite terms.
2 Peter 2 : 19 – 22
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. 20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire."
Once you are saved, you are saved, but those who turn their backs on Christ prove that they never have been saved, and the danger, once that happens, is they sear their souls so that the initial work of repentance can never be wrought in their hearts. They become like Pharaoh, and their hearts are hardened beyond the possibility of ever having them softened again. They become guilty of deliberately and personally sharing in the Crucifixion. Stay with me here.
Forgiveness was offered to those who nailed Christ to the Cross, but no forgiveness, as Hebrews 6 : 6 says, is offered to those who crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. When you deliberately reject the truth after knowing the truth and your heart is hardened, in effect, you would have to crucify Christ again, and as the verse says that would put Him to open shame, and it is not going to happen.
Dear friend, it is a dangerous thing to be convicted of the truth, to know the truth yet reject the truth.
Proverbs 29 : 1
1 He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
C. Their Final End
Hebrews 6 : 7 – 8
7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
The writer now reveals the final end for the fully enlightened and fearfully wicked. He uses an illustration from nature. A piece of ground has received its full measure of rain and should be productive. There is no reason it should not bear useful fruit, but instead, the land bears thorns and thistles. Worthless, it is only fit for the fire.
Matthew 25 : 41 – 46
41 Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' 44 Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' 45 Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Conclusion:
This is truly a solemn warning. The issues at stake when a soul is confronted with Christ are the most serious issues imaginable. Trifling with God’s grace is to offer the final insult to God. To reject His Son is the unpardonable sin, and that is without remedy. “Jimmy, can I still accept Jesus? Have I crossed the point where I can get saved?”
Yes, you can get saved, and no, you have not crossed that point. How do I know? Those questions show that the Holy Spirit is still convicting you, and you can still be saved. You must not delay. Will you accept Jesus today? You have been exposed to the truth. You know the truth. You are almost there, but you must go all-in for Jesus. You cannot hold back anything.
If you do, you are in danger of reaping what God’s Word has sown.
Proverbs 29 : 1
1 He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
How can you get saved?
Romans 10 : 9 – 11, 13
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
13 For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
All you have to do is admit that you are a sinner and confess those sins to Jesus Christ, and repent. Confess Christ as Lord of your life and believe that Jesus was the virgin-born, sinless, crucified, and resurrected Son of God. The Bible teaches that when you do that you need to confess it to a local church, be baptized, and serve that church faithfully.
If you have any questions about salvation, ask them in the comments section, or you can email them to me a jclendenin37@yahoo.com, and if I do not know the answer, I will find someone who does.
I would like to announce that Beech Grove Baptist Church in Bruceville is having a revival August 17-19 at 6:30 nightly. We are calling the revival Salvation Summit #2. The theme each night is accepting Christ as Savior. I will be speaking on August 17. Nathe Ozment will be speaking on August 18, and Charles McKendree will be speaking on August 19. The services each night will be streamed live on beechgrovebruceville.org and Facebook Live at Beechgrove Baptist Church.
Our homecoming service will be August 21.
Thanks,
Jimmy Clendenin
Pastor, Beech Grove Baptist Church